The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1887-05-18

Mr.. GRIFFIN'S GREED FOR FEES.
In further examining the copy purport-
ing to be the ''Acts of 1887, - we find on page
forty.three note to sections two and three
Of IAN act concerning the organization and
perpetuity of voluntary associations" ap-
proved March Z, 1887, which note reads as
follows:
'tNote-Attorney-Gen Kitchener, in
an opinion April IA, 1887, decides that the
organization of associations for sinking oil
and gas wells is covered by section 1851,
r S. 1881; that section 8 of the foregoing
act (approved March z, 1887 must be con-
strued with the statutes heretofore enacted
regulating corporations named in this act,
and that duplicates of their articles of
association must be filed with the Secretary
of State"
We are loath to believe that Attorney
General Kitchener ever delivered any such
an opinion. 1t may possibly be that Mr..
Griffin In his greed for fees has garbled the
opinion, as well as mutilated public rec
ord, to advertise his insatiate desire to
secure a few fees for filing articles of
association which do not properly belong
in his Office. 1t takes no lawyer to know
that the act of 1887 was intended to super
sede sections 1892, 1904 and 3,5O7 of the
Revised Statutes of 1881, and was in no
wise supplemental to or amendatory of
section 3 851, X. s., 1881. The laws con-
corning voluntary associations never have
been understood or construed to have any
reference to the mining and manufacturing
act. In the former case the amount of
Il l. l. Il. =. - La
is unlimited. Mr.. GrIffin's note may pos
sibly misl cad some one, and, IN fact, places
an erroneous construction upon the law.
Instead of discharging the plain duty in
having the acts Published, he undertakes
to interpolate matter entirely foreign to
the act, in fact mutilation of it, to sub
serve personal end. In view of the law
allowing the Secretary of State fee of not
less than 81 for filing each article of incor-
poration, Mr.. Griffin seeks to delude every
body, who may organize under the volun-
tary association law and are only required
to file their articles of association in the
proper County Recorders Office, to file a
duplicate of such article in his Office.
Mr.. Grifin's gratuitous advertisement
for fees in the public acts is not desired,
nor is it either decent, dignified or honor
able. We will await an explanation OF
this new method of Secretary of State
advising the public that he must be paid a
fee by those who are enterprising in de-
veloping Indiana's material resources, and
fee to which he is not by law entitled.
But, waving the question of Mr.. Grit
fms right TO The fees, we can not find
words sufficiently forcible to express our
amszement at the impudence of this officer
in deliberately putting into what purports
to be an authoritative compilation of the
acts of 1887 note giving his own abstract
and construction of the Attorney-Genera
opinion. What right, pray tell us, has q
Secretary of State thus to tamper with
the laws? Who gave him power
to put construction upon them2 Who
bestowed upon him the privilege
of putting notes upon these pages? The
man arrogates to himself the function oil
the Supreme Court. This publication oil
the laws is sacred thing, and it is not foI
Secretary of State, picked out of Re-
publican kindergarten, to make interpola-
tons. If ever public officer deserved in.
slant impeachment, the present Secretary
of State does.